I believe this comic is a joke about an English city’s layout. Can anyone identify it, or if I’m wrong, at least clue me in on the meaning. I’m assuming this is a UK thing because the writer is (or was) living in Britain, and many of the strips have jokes pertaining to the region. I really like the strip, even though the subject matter can be pretty esoteric at times, but I’m completely clueless as to this strip. The best I can guess based on the context is that it’s a joke about poor city planning, but that’s a wild guess based on the title.
:smack: Thought I had Cafe Society open on this tab, not GQ. Sorry about that.
It may be a reference to the amazing and confusing Magic Roundabout in Swindon - is the strip anything to do with that town?
Nothing particular about Swindon, but he has recently made a strip about Roundabouts, so that seems like it’s probably the right one. Thanks Askance
The London Sewage System, perhaps.
I suspect that it would be more clear if we knew where Lem lived and/or what news sources he read each morning before drawing a new comic.
Hmm… reading about the sewage redevelopment’s purpose of addressing environmental concerns, the alt-text (or tooltip, if you prefer) would make a good deal more sense that way Sage Rat.
“But of course it could always be seen as some act of species-wide imperialism.”
PS. And yeah, it would. I’ve seen snippets here and there about Lem’s biographical details, but if I ever happened upon a definite piece, I’ve forgotten it by now. I seem to recall that he’s either referenced the Guardian in some strips in the past, or used articles from it as a source of inspiration for them.
I’ve looked through a few of the strips and I can’t explain any of them
Easy enough to fix. Done.
The guy’s clearly one sandwich short of a picnic.
Surrealism like that just leaves me bewildered, and I wonder about what goes through their minds that they think this kind of stuff has any legitimacy. And then, even more confusingly, it is accepted by an audience after all.
I do not understand this world that we live in.
Eh, I consider his comics as art. I don’t really read them for humor–though occasionally he’ll have one that makes sense as a stand-alone strip (rather than something based upon something arcane and ineffible from the content of the panel) which is usually decently funny.
He has a good artist’s sense and a styling I like. I’d gladly put most of his work on my wall.
Based on the alt-text, the “We do these things…” quote, the color of the large circle, and the two seemingly unconnected smaller circles, I would guess it’s about missions to Mars. The reticles are landing sites, I suspect, although I’m not sure what’s up with the one that seems to have a return path.
That’s a good theory. Mars does indeed have two moons.
He did a bit on mars a few weeks ago: the envy of buzzfeed (# 1523) - Bunny
Good Lord! A construction like that in the US would be the scene of a dozen accidents a day. We have constant accidents at Rotaries here in Massachusetts (Americans, as a rukle, aren’t very good at “giving way”. Especially in Massachusetts. Dave Barry says the motto of Florida Drivers is “Death Before Yielding”, but it fits MA drivers as well, if not better).
They recognize this in Washington DC. The city is built around Traffic Circles, which they can’t get rid of, so they’re studded with traffic lights to ensdure that somebody has to yield.